From Theory to Practice to Problem: Teaching Public History with a Real Client
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Adam Adrian Thomas
Abstract
In many ways, teaching public history through real-world projects is a panacea. After all, a properly trained graduate of a public history program should be able to leave the theoretical world of the university and shift confidently into the exigencies of professional practice. But many educators naturally shy away from this approach because it is fraught with potential disasters – the looming threat of the unknown that frustrates students, educators, and partners alike. Flexibility and adaptability are keys to developing successful real-world public history projects. Accepting or even welcoming the unanticipated provides valuable teaching moments and a sense of reality that is difficult to duplicate in the classroom. Moreover, crafting a flexible but ultimately successful student project requires identifying the right partner or client while tempering expectations with a thoughtful and realistic scope of work.
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Teaching Project session
- Undergraduate Public History Teaching: How and Why It Can Change University History Training
- Leading the Way: Teaching Public History for the First Time
- From Theory to Practice to Problem: Teaching Public History with a Real Client
- Learning by Doing: Introducing Students to Public History through Digital Projects
- Reacting to the (Public) Past™: Innovations in Public History Pedagogy
- From Uncle Tom’s Cabin to “Countering Colston”: Slavery and Memory in a Transatlantic Undergraduate Research Project
- The Circle of Life: Reinvigorating the Humanities with Undergraduate Public History Curriculum
- Conversation
- Negotiating Public Participation through Dance and Drama Techniques: A Roundtable Discussion on the Challenges of Public History Work by the Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit in South Africa
- PH in
- An Overview of Public History in Italy: No Longer A Field Without a Name
- Reviews
- David Dean, ed., A Companion to Public History
- Alix R. Green: History, Policy and Public Purpose: Historians and Historical Thinking in Government
Articles in the same Issue
- Teaching Project session
- Undergraduate Public History Teaching: How and Why It Can Change University History Training
- Leading the Way: Teaching Public History for the First Time
- From Theory to Practice to Problem: Teaching Public History with a Real Client
- Learning by Doing: Introducing Students to Public History through Digital Projects
- Reacting to the (Public) Past™: Innovations in Public History Pedagogy
- From Uncle Tom’s Cabin to “Countering Colston”: Slavery and Memory in a Transatlantic Undergraduate Research Project
- The Circle of Life: Reinvigorating the Humanities with Undergraduate Public History Curriculum
- Conversation
- Negotiating Public Participation through Dance and Drama Techniques: A Roundtable Discussion on the Challenges of Public History Work by the Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit in South Africa
- PH in
- An Overview of Public History in Italy: No Longer A Field Without a Name
- Reviews
- David Dean, ed., A Companion to Public History
- Alix R. Green: History, Policy and Public Purpose: Historians and Historical Thinking in Government
